Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for recent failures to agree a hostage deal in Gaza. It comes as the UK says it will recognise the state of Palestine in September unless Israel acts to end the famine. Follow the latest.
Tuesday 29 July 2025 19:01, UK
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Donald Trump defended Israel’s handling of the crisis in Gaza on Air Force One earlier (see our previous post for more on that).
But still speaking to reporters on the presidential plane, Trump has expressed his horror at seeing pictures of starving children there.
The US president was asked if his wife Melania had spoken to him about the crisis. He recently revealed how she influenced his thinking on the Ukraine war, when she was shocked by Russian airstrikes on civilians.
Trump replied the first lady “thinks it’s terrible”, and added everybody thinks the same “unless you’re coldhearted”.
“There’s nothing you can say other than it’s terrible,” he continued.
“Those are kids that are starving… they’ve got to get them food,” he added.
Donald Trump says he never discussed the UK’s plan to recognise Palestinian statehood with Sir Keir Starmer, adding the US is “not in that camp”.
The president, heading back to Washington after visiting Scotland over the weekend, said Starmer’s statement was similar to France’s Emmanuel Macron.
“He’s basically saying the same thing [as Macron] and that’s OK. It doesn’t mean I have to agree.”
Trump also said his administration will be dealing with Israel on creating food centres in Gaza.
He told reporters he spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu two days ago and the Israeli PM “wants to make sure money is spent well and food is distributed properly” in Gaza.
“I think Israel wants to do it, actually,” he says. “I can tell you they want to do it, they don’t want Hamas stealing the money or stealing the food. If they do it and they really want to do it, they’ll do a good job.”
Israel has criticised the UK’s plans to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September.
Its foreign ministry says the decision is a “reward for Hamas” and hurts efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Here’s the statement in full:
The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages.
Palestinian statehood should not be “dangled like a bargaining chip” to get the Israeli government to cease its assault on Gaza, charity ActionAid UK says.
“A Palestinian state is not a threat to frighten the Israeli government into action after 21 months of relentless war and destruction, it is an unconditional and inalienable right to self-determination,” Hannah Bond, ActionAid UK’s co-CEO, says.
She says the UK government must use “every diplomatic lever available” to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
“That includes halting all arms transfers to the Israeli government and imposing sanctions, immediately.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that the UK plans to recognise Palestinian statehood in September is likely to elicit a “very strong and very negative reaction” from Israel, Sky News correspondent Sally Lockwood says.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Lockwood says the “furious” reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over France’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine suggests a similar response will be coming London’s way.
“When other countries have made these moves, like France, Israel has said that it rewards terrorism and that it threatens to create another Iranian proxy – a state that would want to annihilate Israel,” Lockwood says.
“So it’s fair to say this will have a very negative reaction here from the Israeli government.”
She adds that it seems that Israel and its traditional allies are now moving in opposite directions in terms of their plans for how to create peace in Gaza.
“It’s very hard at that moment to see how these two sides will reach any sort of agreement when it comes to the future of Palestinians in this region.”
The decision to recognise Palestine as a state is mostly symbolic, but comes amid growing international pressure to end what the UN has described as a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
Out of the 193 UN member states, more than 140 already recognise Palestine as a state.
That includes Russia, China and India, as well as more than a dozen in Europe, including Spain, Ireland and Norway.
But until last Thursday, when France joined the list, no G7 country had committed to it.
David Lammy is now speaking in New York at the UN’s two-state solution summit.
The British foreign secretary says the two-state solution is “in peril” as the situation in Gaza “continues to worsen”.
Lammy says the UK’s support for Israel remains “steadfast”, but says a “historical injustice continues to unfold” when it comes to Palestine.
He says the Balfour Declaration, signed by Britain’s then foreign secretary Arthur Balfour 108 years ago endorsing aspirations for an Israeli Jewish state, came with the solemn promise that nothing would be done “which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the Palestinian people”.
He says this has “not been upheld, and it is a historical injustice which continues to unfold”.
‘Netanyahu government is wrong’
Lammy says the rejection of the two-state solution by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “wrong”.
“It’s wrong morally, and it’s wrong strategically. It harms the interests of the Israeli people. Closing off the only path to a just and lasting peace.”
He says this is why the UK – “with the hand of history on our shoulders” – intends to recognise the state of Palestine in September.
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is continuing its efforts to release hostages being held in Gaza, despite the “refusal” of Hamas.
Posting on X, he says the Israeli negotiating team “haven’t stopped trying” to secure a deal since returning from Qatar last week when peace talks with Hamas broke down.
“There is one big obstacle, and everyone knows it – it’s Hamas,” Netanyahu says.
“It remains steadfast in its refusal. President Trump said it, [Steve] Witkoff said it, we say it, everyone who knows the facts, including the mediators, everyone knows it.
“We are not giving up. We will continue to do everything we can, one way or another. We are committed to their return.”
The British government has said it will officially recognise Palestine statehood in September.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that the UK will make this official before the UN General Assembly unless the Israeli government:
He says there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that UK demands on Hamas remain – that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept they will play no role in the government of Gaza and disarm.
In a statement, Starmer added that the first airdrops of British aid landed in Gaza today, containing “around half a million pounds worth of lifesaving supplies”.
Starmer says he hopes his deadline, which coincides with a UN meeting on 9 September, “plays a part in changing the conditions on the ground” by making sure that aid gets into Gaza.
He says it is part of an “eight part plan” that he has already discussed with France and Germany.
Starmer denies that the decision is a U-turn after pressure from Labour backbenchers – saying instead it was always part of the plan to recognise Palestine.
Oxfam says Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump will “fail humanity” if they do not act over the humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza.
The charity says the situation is “no longer about alarm bells” following today’s report from the IPC that “famine thresholds” have now been reached in most of Gaza (see 9.23 post).
“With President Trump still on British soil and the UK cabinet holding an emergency meeting today they no longer have time for equivocation or semantics,” Oxfam says, calling for “an end to the genocide”.
“Airdrops and brief pauses for meagre deliveries of aid are nowhere near enough to prevent starvation and death on the scale the world is now witnessing.”
The statement adds that recognition of Palestinian statehood from the UK would be a “welcome and overdue step in the right direction”.
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